New HART associates join the team

Dr. Anu Vaittinen is currently based at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Her doctoral thesis explored the development of different varieties of embodied knowing, through a phenomenological, ethnographic investigation of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), and her research interests lie in the qualitative study of physical culture and include: interdisciplinary approaches, phenomenological sociology, in particular the intertwining of embodiment, sensory perception, situatedness, lived experience, narratives and knowledge within combat sports, health & fitness, and cardiac rehabilitation. Anu has recently joined Dr. Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson and other HART colleagues on a collaborative auto-ethnographic/phenomenographic project exploring ‘sensory experiences of heat and temperature’ in physical cultures.

Second, Dr George Jennings is a cultural sociologist interested in the qualitative study of traditionalist physical cultures such as the non-sporting martial arts, Eastern movement forms and native games. George is currently working with Dr Jacquelyn Allen-Collinson and Dr Helen Owton on an autophenomenolographical project on lived body heat in martial arts, distance running and boxing. He collaborates widely, and his publications pertain to embodied topics such as habitus, body lineage, embodied interactions, narratives and intimacy as experienced through martial arts and combat sports. This coincides with a study on Xilam, a Mexican fighting art, and an investigation into the relationships between martial arts, health and society. George is a lecturer and researcher in sport sciences at the Universidad YMCA in Mexico, where he is also co-editor of the Journal of the International Coalition of YMCA Universities. He has previously taught in England and Scotland.